I had a lovely and refreshing cruise experience with my family over winter break. I’ve never done a review on a cruise before, but I was overall impressed by the experience and wanted to share with anyone that might be interested in booking something similar (and some personal anecdotes and memories from these days…)
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I’m typically a positive reviewer, so I wanted to dedicate an article to listing out some main aspects of the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas cruise that I really enjoyed:
Entertainment:
We watched a few adult comedy shows and made it to all of the bigger shows offered on the nights. One aquatics show, one dance show, and one really outstanding fairytale-inspired ice-skating show with professional ice-skaters from around the world. We also watched a CATS musical. I went with my whole family to these and it was a pretty great time.
My sister and I admittedly got a bit lazy on the entertainment aspect and didn’t make it to a lot of the smaller events, but every day the cruise had a brochure with all the unique events of the day listed out- and there were a lot! (Silent disco, karaoke night, clubbing, laser tag, auctions.)
Boat features/locations:
It’s been a while since I’ve been on a cruise, and Oasis of the Seas is the biggest cruise ship currently. I was definitely pleasantly surprised with all the different decks and areas of the ship.
The fifth floor was the main deck, with stores, restaurants, karaoke bars, Starbucks, and other cruise-related resources. The fifth floor also had an outdoor track running around the entire boat- this was one of my favorite places on the ship. Bridgette and I would take loops around the track and talk about life, looking at the ocean and being constantly passed by enthusiastic runners. The track was so red, the sunshine made the water sparkle- the sea and sky were a beautiful cerulean and those colors and textures were so vibrant and a perfect place to have long sister heart-to-hearts.
The sixth floor was the gym and spa- I loved the gym. The gym was huge and had round, nautical ship windows that had the view of rolling blue waves as you were running on the treadmill. One feature of the gym was that
My personal favorite was the 8th floor “Central Park”. Half the deck was Central Park, an artificial (but nonetheless) pretty park lined with cafes, restaurants, streets, and plenty of seating to cozy up with a nice book and a cup of coffee. I went to this Central Park venue so much during the cruise that I’m pretty sure I’ve spent more time on Oasis’s artificial garden, a tiny speck in the vast Caribbean ocean than Central Park in New York. (New York exploration is a large piece of work in progress.)
On the very top floor were the water slides, bars, pools, hot tubs- basically a half outdoor exposed colorful blast of fun for all ages. Bridgette and I spent most of our afternoons here, tanning on lounge chairs with AirPods in.
There are also some really fun bars, and a casino in the boat as well, so definitely a variety of venues that cater to a wide group.
Service:
I think hands down one of the best parts of the Royal Caribbean is the service. I would give their staff service a 10/10 because it was consistently excellent, from our assigned restaurant’s waiters that we were serviced by every night, to performers and chefs, to literally everyone on the boat. I had such a pleasant and nice encounter with literally every staff member I encountered that week, and I really can’t think of another instance in the recent years where the service was all around so consistent and positive.
Of course, we were able to get to know our waiter and assistant waiter well, because we saw them every night for dinner. Antonio was from Colombia and had been working with Royal for over twenty years! Maria was from Peru, and very sweet. (She and my grandma hit it off quite excellently and hugged goodbye the last dinner.)
Overall, I think the service just made a really positive impression and was probably my favorite thing about the overall cruise experience. I think it’s a really great vacation to do with a loved one as a romantic getaway or with family as a vacation because the positive and fun staff contribute to the overall experience.
Dining:
Ahh.. and the food! Of course, we’ll get to this one, since cruises definitely take a lot of pride and put a lot of effort into their dining options. My family would meet at the main formal dining venue every night for dinner- for the rest of the meals my sister and I paired off to explore. Most of the time, we went to the formal dining venue for breakfast as well, either buffet or a-la-carte, depending on our morning mood or the length of the line.
For dinner, they had a menu with a variety of appetizers, entrees, and desserts (there was a set of appetizers, entrees, and desserts that would change every day, and also some consistent options like salmon, steak, etc.) I thought the food was pretty good- and I thought the desserts were excellent! (I got the creme brûlée most nights, but did do some comprehensive sampling of most of the other desserts.) Since we spent Christmas on the ship, they had a special Christmas menu which I thought was a pretty cute touch.
Most of the other meals, Bridgette and I would go to the Windjammer Marketplace on the top floor of the ship by the pools and lounges. That dining area is essentially a large buffet-style venue with a decent variety of foods and a separate dessert bar. I think the best part about Windjammer is that the walls are window panes, so the view of the ocean, or whatever port the boat is arriving to or departing from is really beautiful. If you love those ocean views then this is a great place for lunch.
I hope this was helpful! If you’d like to see our trip in video, check out Bridgette’s vlog.
Love,
-A
